204 islam, politics and change
(prostitute) and the customer. Enforcing the law only with respect to the
former would not solve the problem.²³
This case shows that differentiating between religious and secular
parties is no longer relevant. This can be explained by looking at the
balance of parties when the bill was accepted which changed by the
decline of one secular party, the pdi-p and the rise of another one, the pd.
Of the 45 seats in the Bantul legislature, the pd had one seat (2.2 per cent)
in 2004 and five in 2009, a significant increase. On the other hand, the
pdi-p won 16 seats (35.5 per cent) in 2004 but dramatically lost five seats
(24.4 per cent) in 2009. Another important party, the Islamic pks had
five seats (11 per cent) both in 2004 and 2009 (see Appendix, Table 1).²⁴
In view of this it is safe to argue that the transformation of the so-called
politik aliran(aliran politics) after the fall of Suharto still continues.²⁵
This can be seen from the fact that the current political situation in some
local areas in Indonesia presents a picture of people’s loose attachment to
political parties, particularly in terms of declining membership figures
and increasing numbers of swing voters.²⁶ This phenomenon refutes
the premise that politics has become polarised between Islamic and
non-Islamic parties. Moreover, the contradiction between urban-based
parties and rural-based parties has become blurred. Both religious and
non-religious streams are following the same direction. They tend to
neglect their political ideologies, while rather pragmatic interests appear
to drive their agendas.
The vast majority of Muslims in Bantul, about 95 per cent of the whole
population, mostly living in rural areas, are a captive political market.
Both secular and Islamic parties have to compete over their influence in
that domain. The pdi-p, which usually avoids exploiting religious issues
or speaking out in favour of the introduction of Sharia-based byelaws
such as those relating to pornography and the wearing of ahijabby
women, acts differently at the regional level. This observation leads me
to conclude that presenting an Islamic image, in fact, is used by parties
as a strategy to win over Muslim voters. It is, hence, relevant to consider
Ufen’s note on the dynamics of politik aliran in theReformasiera. He
Pendapat Akhir Fraksi pkb atas Enam Raperda Kabupaten Bantul (The Final
Opinion of the pkb’s faction on Six Bills of Bantul), 12 April 2007.
Based on the data of both the Central and Bantul Commission of General Election.
R. William Liddle, ‘New Patterns of Islamic Politics in Democratic Indonesia’,
Asia Program Special Report(Woodrow Wilson Center International Center for
Scholars), no. 110, April 2003, pp. 4–13.
Andreas Ufen, ‘The Evolution of Cleavages in the Indonesian Party System’,
Working Paper at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies, April 2008.